Lovely feature in this month's NS which uses "Cyberball" (see above) - a game for 3 players (actually only 1 and 2 computer stooges) to explore the neuroscience of ostracism. Yes, that's right, HERDmeister is recommending a ...

There's a lot of skepticism about whether or not MOOCs are "disrupting" higher education, but can they offer important learning opportunities for the institutions themselves?

Pamela D Lloyd's insight:

The MOOC courses I've tried relied way too heavily on lectures, quizzes, and posting short essays in forums to be critiqued by students who often showed a distinct lack of understanding of the material. The courses didn't teach anything about active learning, except how not to engage students. They are not a direction I want to see used as a model for the future of education.

Math is invisible. Unlike physics, chemistry, and biology we can't see it, smell it, or even directly observe it in the universe. And so that has made a lot ...

Pamela D Lloyd's insight:

Math is extremely useful, but is it real, or is it simply a figment of the human imagination? This fast, fun, smart video is an episode of PBS's Idea Channel. It's also part of the 10 Unanswered Science Questions series. There's lots of food for thought here, entertainingly introduced by host Mike Rugnetta, and this could easily be used in a classroom to spark discussion about math, science, or the philosophy of those fields.

The culmination of my quest for more powerful learning grounded in theory and research came when recently I conducted an experiment in pushing constructionism into the digital age.

Constructionism is based on two types of construction. First, it asserts that learning is an active process, in which people actively construct knowledge from their experience in the world. People don’t get ideas; they make them. This aspect of construction comes from the constructivist theory of knowledge development by Jean Piaget. To Piaget’s concept, Papert added another type of construction, arguing that people construct new knowledge with particular effectiveness when they are engaged in constructing personally meaningful products.

Imagine my surprise and joy when I realized that I had arrived at constructionism prior to knowing that such a theory even existed. I believe that thousands of other educators are unknowingly working within the constructionist paradigm as well. Although many within the Maker movement are aware that it has it’s roots in constructionism, the movement is gaining impressive momentum without the majority of Makers realizing that there is a strong theoretical foundation behind their work.

After I came to understand this connection between my practices and the supporting theoretical framework I was better able to focus and refine my practice. Even more importantly, I felt more confident and powerful in forging ahead with further experiments in the learning situations I design for my learners.

"Education is in need of some changes. If we eliminate grades, we make room for many important shifts that must occur in our current climate. It's time to shift the mindset; teachers, throw out grades.

Pamela D Lloyd's insight:

"Teachers, students and higher educational systems need to start valuing learning and progress over points if we want our students to be truly career and college ready."

I can't agree more. The focus of education needs to be on learning, not on grades.

Textbooks and other student reading material are increasingly going digital, but can students still interact with the text in ways that promote deep reading?

Pamela D Lloyd's insight:

"While ever more schools adopt textbooks and student reading materials to digital readers like iPads and Chromebooks, some recent research suggests students may comprehend more from reading print."

This examination of how middle school students respond to and work with digital textbooks addresses questions that are applicable to learners at all levels of instruction. Digital devices have many benefits, but they just don't provide the same level of interaction that physical books do. The physical process of interacting with a physical book, including the ability to write in the margins, is important when it comes to getting the most out of reading. Digital books just can't offer that, yet.

However, digital reading specialists are working on tools and strategies that will help to improve deep learning from digital materials. For example, students who are familiar with and use annotation apps within their textbooks may actually benefit from working with digital materials, since students are generally discouraged from writing in or marking up their physical textbooks.

In the meantime, there's a place for both physical and digital books in today's classrooms.

Letter-grades fail at giving students specific information about how they are doing in class.

Pamela D Lloyd's insight:

Students don't need grades. In fact, grades can actually prevent real learning because students come to equate success in school with getting good grades, rather than with increasing their understanding of the subjects being taught and the world around them.

We know this. Not only has this been identified as a problem by educators for decades, but anyone who has ever started school as a curious child. excited by the prospect of learning, only to discover that school is boring, that school makes them hate learning, regardless of whether they get good or bad grades, knows this.

It's time to end the carrot and stick approach that is grading and begin giving children and their parents real feedback that promotes learning.

How many times do you hear students in your classroom or library say, “I can’t”? Doesn’t that phrase make you cringe? I always tell students, "Don’t say that because you can,” and help them figure out ways to reach their goals.

E-readers and tablets are becoming more popular as such technologies improve, but research suggests that reading on paper still boasts unique advantages

Pamela D Lloyd's insight:

It's still early days for digital reading, so it's unclear how many of the issues noted in this examination of the differences between reading physical books and ebooks will remain, and how many will seem hopelessly antiquated to our descendents. I found that most of the points noted reflect my own experience with our evolving media delivery systems, while also suggesting some thought-provoking possibilities for the future.

People with type 2 diabetes often have memory problems. That may be a result of Alzheimer's-like brain changes – changes which can be reversed in rats

Pamela D Lloyd's insight:

This article raises more questions for me than it answers, especially since I have not previously been aware of a correlation between Alzheimer's and diabetes. Still, if true for even portion of the population, this provides much greater insight into treatments.

Rethinking recent “common sense” claims about technology as distraction in the classroom.

Pamela D Lloyd's insight:

There are many claims that new technological tools are harmful to learning, but are those claims valid? Do students really learn more poorly when they take notes on a laptop than when they do so by hand? Michael Oman-Reagan says no, and identifies flaws in anti-technology research. He points, instead, to the need to leverage students' tool use in the classroom, while teaching them critical thinking skills that will support their learning regardless of which tools they use because effective use of technology is a necessary skill in today's world and the world of the future.

I agree with Pamela D Lloyd when she writes: "There are many claims that new technological tools are harmful to learning, but are those claims valid? Do students really learn more poorly when they take notes on a laptop than when they do so by hand? Michael Oman-Reagan says no, and identifies flaws in anti-technology research. He points, instead, to the need to leverage students' tool use in the classroom, while teaching them critical thinking skills that will support their learning regardless of which tools they use because effective use of technology is a necessary skill in today's world and the world of the future." http://www.scoop.it/t/learning-education-and-neuroscience

T.H.E. Journal asked educators for the most creative storytelling apps available, and we did a little digging on our own, too. The tools and apps we found turn students into novelists, artists, and moviemakers with each tool bringing its own powerful mechanism for transforming the traditional narrative--both inside and outside the classroom...

This article give examples of how Voice Thread, Diigo, Scoop.It, Instagram, Pinterest, and Feedly can be used to enhance teaching and learning. The article wraps up with three key benefits of using social media in the classroom.

These teachers see the internet and digital technologies such as social networking sites, cell phones and texting, generally facilitating teens’ personal expression and creativity, broadening the audience for their written material, and encouraging teens to write more often in more formats than may have been the case in prior generations. At the same time, they describe the unique challenges of teaching writing in the digital age, including the “creep” of informal style into formal writing assignments and the need to better educate students about issues such as plagiarism and fair use.

This study provides insight into the issues teachers see, positive and negative, regarding the ways in which digital tools impact student writing. Overall, they see many benefits, but there are specific areas of concern.

The highest-level executive thinking, making connections, and "aha" moments of insight and creative innovation are more likely to occur in an atmosphere of what Alfie Kohn calls exuberant discovery, where students of all ages retain that kindergarten enthusiasm of embracing each day with the joy of learning.

According to a report out of the Center for American Progress, inequitable per-pupil spending perpetuated by regressive state and local school-finance systems remains cause for concern in U.S. public schools, despite state aid formulas designed to work to the contrary.

An interactive conjugator of English verbs arranged in a classic table format, with the additional feature allowing instructors to make links for their syllabus that control what students see so that they can be exposed only to what they have already studied along with the new features being studied.

Here’s something very special. In the 1950s archeologists made a great discovery near the city of Novgorod, Russia: they dug up hundreds of pieces of birch bark with all sorts of texts written on them.

Pamela D Lloyd's insight:

I just love these! Plus, we now know that doodling helps to improve learning.

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